The Life and Public Services of J. Glancy Jones (Volume 1) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1910 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVI. The Know-Nothing party--Organization of the Republican party--Mr. Jones' reelection to Congress for his third term--The first session of the Thirty-fourth Congress--The different shades of political conviction in the opposition to the Democratic party--The long contest for the Speakership--Mr. Jones is selected as leader of the Democratic party in the House--He drafts the platform adopted by the caucus--His long debate in defence of that platform. IN the year 1853 a new political party sprang up upon the ruins of the Whig party, called the "Know-Nothing party." It was a secret oath-bound organization, and its chief principles were hostility to foreigners and to the Roman Catholic Church. Its principles were not declared. It was a sprout from the roots of the dead Federal party, and in it were reproduced the old Federal heresies of the alien and sedition laws. In this party were gathered together all the factions into which the Whig party broke up when it went to pieces, and it included in its ranks most of the men who had been leaders of that party. It was constructed out of the elements which were opposed to the doctrines of the Democratic party, and opposition to that party seemed to be the only cohesive force which held this incongruous party together. From the beginning the Democratic party took a firm and decided stand against it and its fanatical doctrines. The Know-Nothing party was said to have originated in the city of New York. Its progress at first was slow, but branches were gradually organized in the different States. The elections in Philadelphia and Washington and in most of the other cities of the North were carried by it in the spring of 1854, and it grew rapidly to formidable proportions. The elections in many of the Northern ...